This invention relates in general to chairs and seats and deals more particularly with a metal folding chair of a type having a ganging feature.
A typical metal folding chair of the type with which the present invention is concerned includes a ganging device for releasably connecting the chair in side-by-side relation to other chairs of like kind to form a uniform row or ganged arrangement of connected chairs. Such chairs are usually found in auditoriums, gymnasiums, meeting halls and other places of assembly where temporary seating in orderly fashion may be required. A metal folding chair having a ganging feature usually includes male and female connecting elements attached to and projecting outwardly from opposite sides of the chair. Examples of such chairs are found in U.S. Patents to Banke, U.S. Pat. No. 3,127,218, and Blanchard, Jr., et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,227,487.
Separable folding chairs of the aforedescribed general type are usually subjected to considerable handling and may be frequently set up to provide temporary seating and, thereafter, knocked down for storage in folded condition. Consequently, such chairs are often subjected to rough handling. Any protruding parts, such as the attachments employed to make ganging connections, are frequently subjected to the risk of damage from rough handling. Further, where such chairs may be used in unconnected relation to other chairs for random seating the projecting parts which comprise the ganging devices present a hazard to clothing which may catch on a projecting part of a chair and be torn.
Accordingly, it is the general aim of the present invention to provide an improved metal folding chair having an unobtrusive ganging device with minimal projecting parts. It is further aim of the invention to provide an improved chair having durable coupling parts for ganging connection and which are highly resistant to damage caused by rough chair handling.
In accordance with the present invention a metal folding chair has a tubular frame including a unitary tubular main frame member of generally rectangular cross-section. The main frame member defines a pair of elongated parallel side portions and an integral backrest support which extends transversely between the side portions and carries a backrest. The chair also has a seat pivotally connected to the frame. A coupling means or ganging device is provided for releasably securing the folding chair in adjacent side-by-side relation to one or more other chairs of like kind and includes at least one female connecting element or keyslot defined by an internally reinforced outer sidewall of an associated one of the side portions. The keyslot opens outwardly through the outer sidewall of one of the main frame side portions and communicates with the interior of the tubular main frame member. The reinforced portion includes a reinforcing plate disposed within the tubular main frame member and mounting means for securing the reinforcing plate in fixed position on and within the tubular main frame member in the engagement with an inner surface of the outer sidewall of the associated one of the side portions.